Posts Tagged 'Accelerator'

As you may have read in one of my previous posts, SoftLayer partners with various startup accelerator programs around the world. This gives us the incredible opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the brightest entrepreneurs in the tech industry. Because SoftLayer grew out of a classic startup environment, we have a passion for helping new companies achieve their goals. From C-level execs all the way down the chain, we're committed to finding the best innovators out there and mentoring them on their way to success.

We're planning a pretty big public debut for the SoftLayer startup program in the coming months, but we want to start introducing you to some of the killer startup companies we already are working with. Today's incredible business: Distil.

Here's a quick insight into the company from a quick Q&A with the brains of the operation, Rami Essaid, Founder and CEO of Distil:

Q: Tell me a little bit about Distil and how you got started.

A: Distil is the first content protection network that helps companies identify and block malicious bots from harvesting and stealing their data. We started after talking to online publishers about their security needs, and we quickly realized that digital publishers had no control over their content once they put it on the web. We started working to create the first platform aimed to help them protect and control their information.

Q: When was the moment you first recognized you had a big idea?

A: It happened after presenting our proof of concept to a couple digital publishers, the enthusiastic feedback we received made us instantly realize that this was it.

Q: How did you build your company?

A: The company started as an after-work hobby. As the platform picked up momentum, we slowly started leaving our jobs to devote all of our time to Distil. We quickly raised seed capital to help fuel our growth.

Q: What are the keys to your Distil's success?

A: The team I have at Distil is absolutely the reason for our success. Each person's hard work, energy, and dedication allow us to accomplish twice as much in half the time. This group of guys is the most intelligent and keen I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

Q: How would you describe the market for your product?

A: Distil is a technology solution to a problem that traditionally only relied on laws and litigation. Copyright infringement has been an issue on the web since the World Wide Web was started, but up until now most companies treated the data theft reactively. We are disrupting that way of thinking and creating a new market, protecting data and content proactively before it is ever stolen.

Q: How did you arrive at SoftLayer and how have we helped?

A: We were connected to SoftLayer through the TechStars Cloud Accelerator program. We were introduced to SoftLayer's leadership team, and they worked with us to improve our platform performance and tweak our designs to utilize both dedicated and cloud servers. By using this hybrid solution, we've been able to gain the power and speed of dedicated servers while still having the flexibility to burst and scale on demand.

Q: What advice would you give to other startups?

A: The best advice I can give to any startup is to make sure they're passionate about what they're doing. Startup life is not easy. You work 16-20 hours a day, seven days a week, have very little money, and are always worried someone else will beat you to the prize. Passion is the only reason you get up in the morning.

In my short conversation with Rami, I could hear his passion. That's exactly what we're looking for in companies who join the SoftLayer startup program. We can't wait to see what the future holds for Distil.

If you enjoy reading about cool new startups, bookmark the Startups page here on the SoftLayer Blog or subscribe to the "Startups" RSS feed to meet some of the most badass startups in the world.

Tech Wildcatters is a mentor-driven technology startup accelerator led by entrepreneurs in the Dallas area. The 12-week "boot camp" runs every spring and fall, providing experience and exposure to the 8-10 companies selected to participate in each class. Dennis Dayman, a Tech Wildcatters partner and mentor, explains what Tech Wildcatters is all about and why they chose to partner with SoftLayer:

In the coming weeks, you'll meet a few of the startups that have benefited from the Tech Wildcatters program, and we'll share some of their post-accelerator success with you.

If you're interested in learning more about how you can participate in the Tech Wildcatters startup accelerator, visit http://techwildcatters.com. If you already know you want to take advantage of the opportunities Tech Wildcatters can provide, their simple online application is the only thing between you and your soon-to-be-huge business!

This post features an organization involved in the SoftLayer Startup Program. SoftLayer Loves Startups, so we want to help them fuel their success by providing hosting resources and expertise to new and growing businesses. In this series, you'll meet a few of the startups and incubators SoftLayer supports to learn more about the amazing things they're doing.

SoftLayer loves startups. The culture, the energy, the potential ... It's all good stuff. As you may remember from my 3 Bars 3 Questions interview and our Teens in Tech profile, one of the ways we support startups is through an incubator program that provides a phenomenal hosting credit and a lot of technology know-how to participating organizations.

In San Francisco, one of the flagship programs we're excited to be a part of is called PeopleBrowsr Labs, a startup accelerator geared toward technology companies in the area. As you sit in the PeopleBrowsr office, the brilliance in the air is almost palpable ... Young companies doing innovative things with everything they need to be successful at their disposal. One of the fringe benefits for participants in PeopleBrowsr Labs is that they're actually rubbing elbows with the PeopleBrowsr team as well ... Which is almost worth the price of admission.

In addition to the Labs sponsorship, SoftLayer is also the infrastructure provider for PeopleBrowsr and its unbelievable data mine of information. They've got every tweet that's been tweeted since early 2008, and they've been able to take that content and make sense of it in unique and interesting ways ... And that's why we stopped by for a visit this week. Last night, PeopleBrowsr officially launched Kred, a dynamic and innovative social influence measurement platform, to a LOT of fanfare (see: TechCrunch).

In the midst of the launch-day craziness, we grabbed Scott Milener, PeopleBrowsr SVP of business development, to have him explain a little about Kred, what differentiates it from the other social influence measurements and what it means for users interested in engaging more effectively with their social networks. Check it out:

With the clear success of the announcement, we want to send a shout out of congratulations to the PeopleBrowsr team. It looks like a phenomenal leap forward in understanding social engagement, and we know it's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what we'll see coming out of the PeopleBrowsr office in the near future.

If you feel a little jaded by the social influence measurements you've seen, Kred's transparency and community-centricity should be refreshing: http://kred.ly